Midgard is a band from the '90's Black Metal scene, they released a demo in '97 and this album in '98, and that's about it until this year when it seems they have decided to reform and re-release their '98 album as a preview, a spearhead of what's (hopefully) to come. I have to admit I haven't heard of them before getting this CD, but I'm glad I had the chance to meet with their music now and I think I would have been extremely glad to meet it in the '90's on tape format, when I was a lot into Evol, and indeed Midgard's music reminds me a bit of Evol's except is not that theatrical and is faster and much more aggressive, but the atmospheres are there, the overall organic feeling of cold, dark nights. While listening to this album I browsed their Facebook page a bit and found out they are working on a new album, but also saw the word "elektrometal" inthere and honestly I hope the upcoming release won't be some electro, synthetic shit, I hope they will keep the structures they had in the '90's although not in fashion anymore. In the meantime you can get a taste of what Midgard was in '98 through this re-release, you'll find a band with great potential, raw, primitive and demonic although making full use of keyboards and other melodic touches.

Municipal Waste has taken their style and gone down the old school Thrash Metal route, fucking awesome stuff here. Between Overkill and this release I don't have anymore brains left to crush with my hammer! Municipal Waste has released a killer Thrash record that kicks ass from start to finish in my opinion. This is the band's fifth full-length release and "The Fatal Feast" is exactly that, a fatal feast. 16 tracks of purely aggressive and technical Thrash made in a brutal way. "Repossession", "Idiot Check", and "You're Cut Off" are just a few of the Thrash cuts that just drill right through a person. All of the tracks on "Fatal Feast" just take me down the "old days" path while still having that modern production sound and angry feel in the metal delivered. A stand up band unleashing the partying side and politically versed version of how the world looks and feels, they are a band I completely agree with as far as the lyrics go, and Tony is still doing one hell of a job with his vocal delivery. Everything goes well together and nothing can bring the Thrash Metal down from the top of Municipal Waste's talent. All I can say is that I will be at the show in Chicago and hearing Municipal Waste live is something well worth the time for me, and everyone else who are fans of this killer Thrash Band. So for the fans i must say that "The Fatal Feast" kicks major ass and make sure you don't have your sledgehammer to close to you when you're stoned or drunk because either you, or the guy next to you will end up dead!

Great looking old-school black & white cover artwork, I love it! This is the first official release of "the French answer to Sadistic Intent, Incantation and Dead Congregation" as their label promotes Necros. 5 tracks of American style old-school Dark Death Metal. Fast most of the time, their music also slows down to more cryptic atmospheres and I guess that's their main highlight, the raw, organic, dark atmospheres they manage to create although being a trio. And yes, the comparison to theabove mentioned bands is true if you take out the guitar solos (non existent here) and consider mostly the atmospheres and production. Otherwise this is a very enjoyable release for all fanatics of '90's Death Metal, not a groudbreaking band but definitely a band that offers their soul through their music. Honest, organic music for the ones of you bored of the nowadays over-produced music.

Usually I do not judge a book by its cover, but sometimes this urge is stronger than me, and that's the case of Noctem Cursis, too. As soon as I saw their band picture in this tape's booklet I thought this is going to be really amateurish, and that's because they look more like Goths than Black Metallers, their facepaint is more funny than evil and although it's their own business and I don't care, I still think they should change this type of Brandon Lee's "The Crow"-like facepaint. Regarding the music, it's not that bad actually, it's fast, raw and aggressive, but it's obvious they are just beginning to create their own style, the instrumental parts are too liniar and the keyboards part, which is quite important in their music, would need some more variation too. The best part I think is the very good tone and attitude of their vocalist, by that he gives the impression he's really hones about this. These guys are young but they show potential, I hope they will continue working on it and honestly I'm curious about their next release.

An old release, but I think since they sent it over for a review it must be still available. Nomenmortis is a band I've heard before, and I guess I even reviewed their "The Day You'll Lose Your Head" album for one of my previous zines, but quite frankly only that album's cover artwork remained stuck to my mind. It looks almost like this one, so I thought this is the same release, but I was wrong, this CD has actually 2 covers, one for Nomenmortis and one for Cruent, so you can pick your fave. Nice idea.

Musicwise Nomenmortis is a fast, quite old-school Death Grind with great, catchy guitar riffs, blastbeats, and uncomprehensive gurgling vocals which I honestly don't like at all. The combination of raw, old-school dusty Death Grind riffs with these vocals isn't something I enjoy, but I've heard this in numerous other bands's music so I guess it's pretty standard to do so.

Cruent is made of 4 guys, 2 of them being members of Nomenmortis also, but the music, although being labelled the same, Brutal Death Grind, is a bit more complex on the vocal side, there are 2 vocals in Cruent and they do a good job spewing their disgust. Cruent is a bit more groovy as well, but still keeping their stuff old-school and organic.

Not my fave style, but I have to admit I have enjoyed this CD a few times so far and I thinkl it will visit my player again soon enough.

Oblivionized are a mix of Brutal Death Metal and Technical Grindcore, quite a mix for these guys! Anyway, they have released a new demo which metalheads can download for free if they want to hear this sickness. "Nullify the Cycle" does just that, it starts and ends with the early feelings of Napalm Death and Carcass to a name a couple, and add their own style of technicality to it. The vocals almost remind me of Autopsy combined with The Accused (minus the accent of course!) Maybe even Denial Fiend! There are three tracks total with 11 minutes of playing time. Three tracks of grind and brutality, but the one track, which happens to be the title track of the demo is a bit different than the other two tracks. The screaming, grinding brutality, and viciousness of the band is replaced with an almost a psychodelic and atmospheric environment in the music...I was not expecting this at all when I was jamming this on my player. Starting off with an atmospheric type sound and feeling moving towards the more progressive, maybe even alternative technical style to it. The vocals are background dressing adding to the psych of the music. Honestly speaking, I liked it alot. I feel this track really shows what Oblivionized can do as musicians and also gives an idea of future potential into the Metal Underground without wasting their energy trying to be the most brutal band on the planet. I don't know how the rest of the fans will react to this, but the smart ones will see through the stereotypes if you know what I mean. "Nullify the Cycle" is a promising demo and fans will like it.

I have reviewed Panychida's previous album and was pretty amazed by it because of its raw, barbaric approach on Pagan Metal, something I'm more into that the nowadays soft, sympho-like trend in this genre. "Woodland Journey" is not really a new album, but a collection of different re-recorded tracks, live tracks, cover versions and 3 new songs, so I'd say this is more of an EP than a full-length but with the difference that it offers much more than those 3 new tracks, an excellent offering for their fans who by now I think are growing rapidly in numbers. Using only conventional instruments Panychida manages to capture both the crude, bloody atmosphere of an old-school release and the majestic feelings inspired by a genre like Pagan Metal. Live, the band is intense as hell, Pagan Black Metal would be a better definition for their live set, and the recordings presented on this release are good quality ones, you won't get bored. The same goes for the two covers, one Running Wild track, and one of the Czech veterans Torr. Really, if you haven't had the chance to check out this band yet, make sure you do it, this is how I like my Pagan Metal, menacing, not happy and funny.

Staight from nowhere Perishing Humanity released its debut album on Metal Scrap Records with no demo or EP prior to it, nothing to make the band's presence felt, at least not outside Ukraine. Anyway, this is a band composed of pretty young guys, formed in 2008, a band that has cosen Deathcore as their path so from the start I have my restraints, I'm not actually a fan of the nowadays Deathcore scene. What I like about this CD are the fantastic instrumental abilities of these young guys, the music ranges from mid-tempo to ultra-fast, filled with bastbeats and psycho guitar leads. Unfortunately the drums sound a bit too synthetic for my taste, I guess they were programmed or the triggers were not that well mastered afterwards. Eugene, the guitarist is a mad maniac that has a bright future ahead, but the rest of the members are doing their fair share of technical work on this album. Such a release is damn impressive for its technical display, but it lacks on emotions, and that's the main goal for any band in this genre I think, to come up with a perfect balance between theis psycho ideas and emotions.

I think this genre, Depressive Black Metal, was built by and for the French bands. Their language sounds so good in such a band that it's like the official language of this new Metal genre.

PHTO's debut EP was recorded in 2010 but released only in 2011 after the unfortunate loss of their drummer, Molasar. It was released in his memory, of course, as he is the one taking care of the drumming on this EP. 5 tracks, almost 40 minutes, so a little longer than your regular EP, "Affliction" is a bit too monotone when it comes to rhythms and vocals, but the amount of depressive emotions generated by this organic sounding band compensates, if you know French this album might catch your interest till the end. The vocals play a major role in this construction, but apart from being really desperate and being supported by clean speeches and whispers from time to time there are no real variations. The instrumental part is closer to the Black Metal side and proves real potential. If you're into this genre you might try PHTO's EP, it has a good production, good atmospheres and it feels quite honest.

I've listened to this band on Myspace a couple of years ago and I was really impressed by their straight-to-your-face Old School Death Metal, so you can imagine when I got their debut album for a review I couldn't wait to spin it in my player. The band is made of former or actual members of bands like Merrimack, Antaeus or Glorior Belli, so we're dealing here with pretty experimented guys, and I guess a lot of French Death Metal followers were eagerly awaiting this release. 9 tracks, a bit more than half an hour, "Sordid Preludes to Purgatory" impresses by its overall Dark atmosphere, that atmosphere Incantation used their fans with from the beginnings. Fast rhythms, two types of vocals, catchy guitar riffs, well-thought guitar leads and a few solos, plus a rhythm section that's tight like a Swiss clock, I'm not disapointed at all by this debut release from Purge, this is a band that will make the French Death Metal scene proud. Recommended!

Regul is an interesting listen, the background ambiance and atmosphere mixed with such a feeling of emotion and even passion in this release. I like it a lot and so will a lot of others into this style of metal. The keyboards, the element of atmosphere is dark, yet... subtle. Hard to explain which is why I like "Chambers of Permafrost" in the first place. From Russia comes Regul, a band of Blackened Thoughts and darkened winter seasons keep things on the level of being almost psychological. So with all of that being said fans of this genre will probably switch through the tracks trying to find which part they enjoy hearing the most! For myself I choose tracks like "Marsh Midnight Darkness", maybe "Chill Frozen Hearts", or even "Truth Northern Lights". Either way the style and atmosphere is what really gives this release the strength and darkness it has, and needs. Vocals are almost put in background behind the music to add the dreary happiness of "Chambers of Permafrost" I like it and so will the underground.

Rue is a stoner/Sludge/brutal fucking band out of Ohio. Since 2003 Rue have been damaging the brains of fans everywhere throughout the underground and with this release, obviously, things have not changed and that's good. The lyrical approach couldn't be more honest as Rue unloads the thoughts of drugs and other forces of nature that can make people stupid, something lacking in today's society of bullshit and betrayal. Anyway, the fact is that mixing the anger and hatred of the human race with the emotion of brutal metal brings out the true form of metal in RUE! The honesty and metal work well together and "THORNS" brings about 13 tracks of pure brutal hell added with over one hour of playing time! An hour of brutality from Rue is well worth the hammer on the skull a few times. Songs like "Brown" and "For Thousands of Years" give a taste of the potential of how brutal Rue can be, but with the added touch of that stoner feeling as well. Rue is great and hopefully will be noticed above the Metal Underground someday.

Lux Mundi is a typical industrial metal with electronic influences. Pathetic vocal, a lot of patos and „opera” sounds in metal drive... The Wall of sound - but intricately decorated, well-oiled machine at work, marching and melodic rhythm of all tracks, good balance beeteen electronic music and guitar riffs... Summarily: good and typical Samael’s monolith. 49 minutes (and five seconds) of intelligence evil and technical part of hell, heh... I’ll be back to this album, „Lux Mundi” is really good!

Reviewed by Vilcin

Rating: 8/10

Band: SAVAGE MESSIAH

Country: UK

Title: Plague of Conscience

Label: Earache Records

Year: 2012

Style: Power Thrash Metal

Review:

Remember the band Headless Cross? Well it seems that former member Dave Silver went on to form Savage Messiah and has now released a third full-length "Plague of Conscience" and this is pretty damn good. "Plague of Conscience" adds the Power metal element with a bit of Thrash Metal and unrelenting lyrical content about the world of Death and war. The vocals are impressive and fit in well with the metal provided by Savage Messiah. Right from the start these guys belt out the Power/Thrash Metal without that boring intro a lot of bands like to have on their first track, this just gets into the songs and doesn't stop until the end. The music is polished and modern, but with the obvious old school influence which gives this release some class for a metal band. Tracks like the title track "Plague of Conscience", "Carnival of Souls", and "The Accuser" show all the elements of Melodic and sharpened Power/Thrash metal in a progressive and technical way. Everything adds up to a good release for Savage Messiah. There are ten tracks totaling 53 minutes of good fucking metal and fans will be proud to play this in their cars while cruising down the highway at 100 mph!

Septic Mind began in Russia in 2006. Since that time Septic Mind has released two previous full-lengths and is now releasing a third entitled "The True Call". This release is a journey in the darkened depths of Funeral Doom Metal, but with definite experimental qualities to go with their style. I am not too familiar with this genre of metal, but i have to say that it is intriguing to me. There are only three tracks but each track is long, the first track is a bit over 25 minutes in length! The other two tracks are about 14 minutes and 18 minutes in length. The vocals are drone and guttural throughout the time it is listened to, and there is also a very dark and depressing nature to "The True Call" as well as a feeling of never making it out of the tunnel! Septic Mind takes you through a cave of of unending Funeral Doom and you have to really into this sort of style to get into this release. Personally while I respect what the band is doing, and playing, I just don't think this is the sort of music people will get into too much. Septic Mind is a band that probably has true followers and fans who really love Funeral Doom. So if your the type of person who enjoys extremely long and drone music that is totaling depressing and dark then Septic mind is for you. If you don't like it then your best bet is to just forget about this one.

These guys have a strange name to say the least, but thankfully the Orchestral Black Metal that flows from the band is much better than the name itself! So Hideous, My Love delivers four tracks of Black Metal, but not in the usual old school manner. There are signs of primitive structure and anger, but mainly this is a modern style atmosphere which has its dark moments and evil feel. From hearing an orchestra sounding start and ending with Black Metal emotion, So Hideous, My Love does a good job turning the atmosphere from dark to black to metal within these four tracks. What is really good about this the fact that the songs aren't drowned out to be 10 or 15 minutes in length. This leaves the fan wanting more by the end of the release. I am not the biggest Black Metal fan in the world, but good metal and potential are easy to spot when it comes to metal and So Hideous, My Love are a damn good band and have a lot of talent. So instead of doing a play by play on the four tracks I will just say that the elements of mixture between the orchestral background and Black Metal madness is not disappointing at all. Fans will like this one that is for sure. Give them a shot and don't let the band's name fool you, Black Metal is evident through the orchestra of modern metal!

I’m positively surprised after listening this stuff. The beginning of this album is a very typical pagan/black metal, but the farther - the better. Big respect for the fact, that all lyrics are in Romanian. „Sub Semnul Lupului” is not too complicated music, but very powerfully and with some good ideas how to play pagan/black metal from Transilvanian Mountains and old Dacian Lands. I very like all folk inclusions in this stuff, and situation, that when I listen to this album I hear, that Syn Ze Sase Tri is Romanian metal band, so I’ll back to this stuff often.

Reviewed by Vilcin

Rating: 8.5/10

Band: TEARS OF MANKIND

Country: Russia

Title: Memoria

Label: Solitude Productions

Year: 2011

Style: Gothic Doom Metal

Review:

Tears of Mankind began in Russia back in 2002 and have since released about nine demos and have now released their fourth full-length release entitled "Memoria". From what i understand one man handles all instruments and vocal duties behind the scenes, but also has a line-up for live shows. "Memoria" is a deep descent into the Avantgarde style of Doom metal, with a Gothic touch. The Melodic metal mixed with the Doom Aspect of this band takes things to a level of deep and depressive music. Unfortunately for me this is just another old school style of Doom Metal that was already completed in the early days of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost during their era of "Gothic". Now don't get me wrong, this is a good release with obvious talent, but there isn't anything here that will stand out beyond the fact that this is a doom metal offering. The days of early doom metal were taken afar by Cathedral, Paradise lost, and My Dying Bride and these bands really influenced a lot of later Doom metal bands. The Melodic nature of the songs and the powerful vocals are done well, but after awhile the release seems to be drawn out and tends to get a bit boring to listen to. A person who is really into the Doom Metal genre will certainly enjoy this release, but other than that it gets hard to keep listening to several eight minute tracks that don't add anymore flavor to the release than the first track does. So for all you hardcore Doom Metal fans out there Tears of Mankind will quench your thirst for darkened and depressive metal.

In 1996 a band named "Stone to Flesh" began their career in the Metal World, but in 2001 "The Stone" became the new name for the band, since that time a plethora of ep's, split releases, and now adding their fifth full-length release to the fold, The Stone has kept very busy. "Golet" is a damn good Black Metal offering that isn't the typical Black Metal release. Aside from the obvious Black Metal influence, The Stone has managed to add some groove and some different modern/progressive elements of the metal genre. Honestly these guys are good at what they do and the way they handled the clear production added with the technical ability of the band, "Golet" is a fresh felt release that deserves to be heard by the masses. The Black Metal is apparent, but so are all the other elements of metal potential. Eight tracks total with a 58 minute playing time, so The Stone give plenty of meta for people to hear. There are tracks that catch me more than others, but all of the tracks are well played and sound good. A couple of tracks that will stand out are "Humke" and "Sekao duboko, zakopao plitko" which show all diversity The Stone has in their style of metal. The Stone are a modern Black Metal band with an old school influence. "Golet" will not disappoint the fans of today's Black Metal genres.

From Poland comes a Blackened/Death Metal entity named Throneum. Since 1996 Throneum has been unleashing their brand of sickening Black Metal with some ultra added Death Metal to top things off. Besides the demos, several splits, and ep's, Throneum has delivered a sixth full-length offering entitled "Death Throne Entities" and this is no exception as far as style and ability is concerned. So what there is here is the old school style, but with a modern thrashing of darkness. Raw and primitive still shows throughout the music as the tracks play on, and Throneum has not let up at all as far as speed, anger, hatred, and darkness is concerned. I did notice that the band have added more elements of Thrash Metal in their music and also plenty of old Death Metal influence as well. "Death Throne Entities" is a good delivery from Throneum and fans of the band since their inception into the Metal World back in the day. Black Metal and Death Metal are the main ingredients here, but the sickness and production take this to the extreme. I really enjoy hearing this release and so will everybody else who are fans. If you're a metal head from old school mayhem then bands like Sarcofago and Nihilist will come to mind, but Throneum still keep their metal in a style executed like no other band. Throneum has given us another fine release of torturous sickness with evil all the way around. No modern production sound and no bullshit techniques. This a raw and darkened offering that will keep old school fans happy and still garner the youth of today's attention! Tracks like "Deathlust" and "Bottomless Grace" are just a small taste of brutal evil and death for the metal land.

Trials is a band that deserves to get out from the pit of the Metal Underground and crush all that sits in front of them! Trials formed in 2007 out of Chicago, Illinois and man these guys fucking jam. They have a bit of everything as far as style and influence goes, a little Thrash, some Hardcore, some brutality and this all comes together nicely. There is nothing soft about the debut full-length "Witness to the Downfall". From start to end Trials throws down a technical brutality with such an edge and fire that I can't stop listening to it. The most interesting, and surprising aspect about "Witness to the Downfall"...The band is unsigned! Trials has impressed me with these fine tuned tracks. A total of nine tracks giving 48 minutes of kick ass metal. From the start of "Praise" through the speedy and thrashy "Hammer" to the end track of "Take this From Me" Trials DOES NOT give up for a second. Skull-crushing metal with a voice that spews out anger and hatred, Trials is well on their way to making the top band in the Metal World! If you're a metal addict with a taste for anger and vengeance in music then check out Trials debut disc "Witness to the Downfall", you'll only be sorry if you don't get this one. Trials has the potential and talent of any band in the world and with the different influences and styles from Brutal Thrash to Progressive Melodic ways Trials will be around for a long time...

I've seen this happen before: guys involved in the early '90's Death Metal scene would come back after a ton of years and deliver some extremely avantgarde, uncompromising music only they can really understand. That's the case of Trillion Red whene the main man, and I guess the only permanent member, Patrick Brown was part of the Missouri metal scene in the '90's. This debut EP delivers only 4 tracks, but it immediately proves the direction of Trillion Red. Their music is hard to be labelled, but it's definitely among the Progressive - Aventgarde territories, the dark side of those territories. Max Woodside, the other member of Trillion Red on this release, is an excellent drummer, while Partick gave it all to create some of the most complex and at the same time catchy structures I've heard in a long time. The only two names that come to my mind while listening to this EP are Pink Floyd (think of a more metal PF follower) and Devin Townsend (for the craziness of its compositions), not really accurate as a description but if you're into those monsters you should give Trillion Red a try, you won't be disapointed.

Welicoruss formed in 2001 in Russia and have been giving to the Metal Underground since that time. Welicoruss are a blend of Symphonic type Black Metal mixed with almost a progressuve style of old 80's influence as well. Now the good thing about "Kharna" is that the symphonic background stays in the background and still leaves plenty of room for the real potential of this band to stand out. Behind all the symphony style music, the band play a primitive style of Black Metal. If we were to take out the background of the music and leave just the metal itself all of the raw and darkened metal would be primitive sounding at the least! This is a definite in terms of being fresh and themusicianship oif the band is tight. I am not into this type of Black Metal but that won't take anything from the fact that Welicoruss can really jam some damn good metal. The vocals are angry and the lyrics are anywhere from the people themselves to Paganism, atleast that is what I gather from the lyrics but i could be wrong. Anyway, this is fine work for a genre filled with unending bands who seem to want to get into playing in an orchestra rather than playing Black Metal itself! Werlicoruss deliver 5 tracks at a total playing time of 24 minutes. There are also two separate instrumentals which are quite interesting to listen to. For being a self-released single, Welicoruss impressed me with how well the production came about on this release, very good job. If you're a fan of Symphonic Black Metal with a fresh sound then check out Welicoruss.

A good surprise brought to us by the Spanish label Art Gates Records, Wulfshon (don't know why but I find the band's name quite funny) delivers a great collision of Black, Death and Pagan Metal completed with all you would need from such a release: fast, aggressive rhythms underlined by occasional acoustic, calm parts and melodic guitar leads here and there, manly, proud vocals supported by clean vocal parts all over the place, not complex but so very effective compositions and a good production. What else would you need? Although they have waited for 7 years to release their debut album I think the wait was worth it, Wolfshon prove to be a notable name coming out of Argentinian lands. If you're into Melodic Pagan Extreme Metal don't miss this album!

One man band from Turkey built up in 2007, Yayla has already 3 full-length releases out, one in 2011 and already 2 in 2012, so in my books this is starting to become a new Moloch-like project... This one I'm listening here is their second album, a 4 tracks effort totaling 55 minutes of Ambient Black Metal. The sound is so bad and fuzzy you will have a hard time distinguishing what's happening inhere, and so did I. Having to bear with this sound for almost an hour is not that recommeneded although maybe this was the whole idea of Emir Togrul, the man behind Yayla. The music is most of the time monotonous, but I can hear some key and vocal elements that would have made this a good release for the genre if it wasn't for this horrible sound, sorry but that ruined it all for me. I hope the latest offering has a bit more effort invested in its production because the atmospheres Emir is creating are worth a fair listen.

I don't think many of you heard about this band yet simply because this is their debut album and there are no traces of other releases until now even if they were formed in 2008. "Breeding the Dark" contains 8 tracks heavily influenced by the Scandinavian school of Black Death Metal from the '90's and even their label mentiones their music as being Dissection influenced. I don't understand the addition of a Vlad Tepes image in the booklet but I guess they have added it because it looks nice and dangerous, no hidden meaning or anything deeper. The music is aggressive, ferocious at times (especially because of the vocal part), but Zardens also include a good dose of melody in their guitar leads and solos. By using twin guitars on building their riffs Zardens manage to create a dark, evil atmosphere that's perfect for this genre. The slower tracks "The Howling Shadows", "The Nightspirit" or "Where Eagles Fly" are breaking down a bit this otherwise entertaining and easy flowing album and seem to be composed in a bit of a hurry, but all in all this is a stong release recommeded to old-school Scandinavian Black Death Metal followers.